Canavan says ‘humbling’ to be elected Nationals leader
Matt Canavan is addressing reporters, having just been elected the leader of the Nationals after a ballot this morning.
The Queensland senator is flanked by his entire party room, and thanks David Littleproud for his service to the party.
Canavan gives us a bit of a forward sizzle on his priorities.
It’s extremely humbling to be elected the leader of this great party … It’s been a tough time, and I know more than anyone else how tough it can be in this game. But David has left everything out on the paddock.
We need to have more Australian everything … We need more Australian babies. We need more Australian humour, more Australian jokes. We need more Australian barbecues, sometimes often fuelled by fossil fuels. We need more Australian everything. We don’t need to look overseas for our solutions.
He thanks his new deputy leader, Darren Chester and says Bridget McKenzie, who also put her hat in the ring, will remain leader of the party in the Senate.
Key events
Josh Taylor
Claude chatbot owner to open Sydney office
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI chatbot, has announced it will open its first Australian office in Sydney.
The company will hire staff in Sydney to “deepen our engagement with Australian institutions”, Anthropic said on Monday, with the executive team visiting at the end of March to meet customers and policy makers.
Chris Ciauri, managing director of international for Anthropic, said:
Establishing a local presence will help us to develop strong partnerships in ANZ and ensure Claude is built with respect for the unique goals, opportunities, and challenges of the region.
Anthropic already works with Australian businesses including Canva, Quantium and CommBank, and Australia ranks 4th in the world for Claude usage, relative to population.
Anthropic said it is looking to expand its compute capacity in Australia, and is exploring adding capacity through local datacentre providers.
On Tuesday, Anthropic filed two lawsuits against the US Department of Defense, alleging that the government’s decision to label the company a “supply chain risk” was unlawful and violated its first amendment rights. It followed a fight between Anthropic and the Trump administration over safeguards over the military’s potential use of AI for mass domestic surveillance or full-autonomous lethal weapons.
Read more here:
Penry Buckley
NSW attorney general not surprised by successful challenge to protest law
Returning to NSW budget estimates, the attorney general, Michael Daley, says he was not surprised by a successful constitutional challenge against controversial anti-protest laws he presented to parliament after a spate of antisemitic attacks.
In October last year, the supreme court ruled laws rushed through parliament in February 2025 giving police move-on powers for protests in or near places of worship impermissibly burdened the freedom of political communication. The court heard one of the pretexts for the bill was not a religious event, but a protest outside the Great Synagogue where a member of the Israel Defense Forces was speaking.
Asked if he was surprised by the successful challenge, Daley says: “No.” Asked if he deliberately presented legislation to parliament which he thought might be unconstitutional, he says:
No, I think, as has been said by a great many ministers, indeed the premier and other ministers at state and federal level, when you’re presented with emergencies of this type, and you have to craft a legislative response that’s novel and that some people think might wander into infringing on people’s freedoms and rights, that sometimes there is an inherent risk that that legislation might be ruled to be unconstitutional or the like, and all you can do is craft it in the safest way possible, taking into consideration the advice that you give.
The government has since amended the law to give police move-on powers when people harass, block, intimidate or threaten people entering or leaving a place of worship.
Clive Palmer running for federal parliament – again
Josh Butler
Serial election candidate Clive Palmer says he will run for the federal seat of Fadden at the next federal election, pledging his United Australia Party would field candidates in every seat nationwide.
Palmer has threatened to run “the largest” campaign ever seen in Australia. The mining magnate has regularly poured $100m into election campaigns, but has failed to yield any major electoral success – only having one senator, Ralph Babet, elected in 2022 and no candidates in 2025.
Palmer is giving a press conference now and we’ll bring you more from that soon.
Penry Buckley
NSW attorney general won’t say if cabinet ignored own advice about protest policing
The NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, has refused to say if the government ignored the advice of its own national security expert before passing controversial laws restricting protests after the Bondi Beach terror attack.
Leaked documents have revealed the NSW cabinet office national security executive director, Alexandra Caples, provided advice the week after the Bondi attack on tackling incitement to violence and hatred, warning that heavy-handed policing might alienate communities and could even “increase the risk of radicalisation”.
After the attack, the government rushed through controversial public assembly restriction declaration laws giving the police power to drastically limit protests, now subject to a constitutional challenge. The laws were in place during last month’s protest against the visit by Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, which saw several protesters charged with public order offences, and has prompted an independent investigation into alleged police brutality.
In a heated exchange at NSW budget estimates this morning, Daley was asked by Greens justice spokesperson Sue Higginson about the advice provided to cabinet. He says he won’t publicly discuss “what advice may or may not have been given to cabinet”, but goes on to say:
I can’t, for the life of me, see how the premier saying to the people of NSW, I want this summer to be a summer of peace and not a summer of protest, please turn down the temperature, please be respectful, please don’t come into the city or to Bondi in big numbers and congregate and protest … I can’t see how anyone in passing laws that mirror those objectives and sentiments … someone would say that’s going to contribute to radicalisation.
‘I’ve got a different job to do as leader’: Canavan
Matt Canavan is a senator who has crossed the floor against the Coalition multiple times from the backbench, and spoken out – a freedom he won’t be afforded as Nationals leader.
A reporter asks how he’ll balance being outspoken with his leadership role.
Canavan says he now has a different job, and backs his previous actions.
I’ve got a different job to do as leader, and I’ll commit myself to do that. Number one, though, the National party has been back for months now, we, a few months ago, resolved to dump this crazy idea that we get to net zero emissions by 2050 and look here. So I stood against that. I stood by my convictions. But we are back now fighting for the use of Australian resources, fighting for a lower cost of living for Australians.
On that campaign against net zero, Canavan is asked about the people particularly in cities who are concerned about climate change and the environment.
Canavan says the focus should be on lowering energy prices, and points out that he too has solar panels, as my excellent colleague Sarah Martin reported on this week.
Did you see the news? Greg, I have solar panels. Who’s from the Guardian here? They’ve reported that the other day.
I will focus on and fight for what is right in terms of the substance of your question. All I stood for, all I’ve argued for which we’re all doing right now as a Nationals and Liberal team is that we use all of our god given resources for the benefit of the Australian people.
Canavan says ‘humbling’ to be elected Nationals leader
Matt Canavan is addressing reporters, having just been elected the leader of the Nationals after a ballot this morning.
The Queensland senator is flanked by his entire party room, and thanks David Littleproud for his service to the party.
Canavan gives us a bit of a forward sizzle on his priorities.
It’s extremely humbling to be elected the leader of this great party … It’s been a tough time, and I know more than anyone else how tough it can be in this game. But David has left everything out on the paddock.
We need to have more Australian everything … We need more Australian babies. We need more Australian humour, more Australian jokes. We need more Australian barbecues, sometimes often fuelled by fossil fuels. We need more Australian everything. We don’t need to look overseas for our solutions.
He thanks his new deputy leader, Darren Chester and says Bridget McKenzie, who also put her hat in the ring, will remain leader of the party in the Senate.
Pop star Katy Perry loses trademark battle with Australian designer Katie Perry
Catie McLeod
Leaving federal politics for a moment, US pop star Katy Perry, born Katheryn Hudson, lost her legal battle to trademark merchandise sold in Australia under her stage name.
A high court decision today concludes a long-running dispute that escalated when Sydney designer Katie Taylor, who was born Katie Perry and sold clothes under her birth name, sued the singer in October 2019.
In a majority decision, the high court found the designer’s mark – registered in 2008 – was not likely to cause confusion regardless of the singer’s reputation at the time, and was not in breach of the trademark laws.
The designer won in the first instance in 2023, with the federal court finding the singer’s label, Kitty Purry, had engaged in trademark infringement during her 2014 Australian tour.
Hudson had applied – by way of a cross-claim – for the designer’s trademark to be cancelled, alleging that she had already had a big enough reputation in Australia in 2008 that meant Taylor’s label would be “likely to deceive or cause confusion”.
However, the designer lost on appeal in 2024, when three appeal judges unanimously overturned the original findings and upheld Hudson’s cross-claim, ordering that Taylor’s trademark be deregistered.
Today, the high court overturned the appeal judges’ decision and awarded costs to Taylor.
Government’s migration bill passes the House
The government has quickly gotten it’s migration bill through the House this morning with the support of the Coalition.
Crossbenchers tried to move amendments to the bill, but they weren’t supported by the government or opposition.
The migration bill will now go to the Senate where it will also be able to pass through fairly quickly with Coalition numbers.
Adam Morton
‘Virtually no moderates left in the Liberal party’: Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull also told the Climate Action Week Sydney event that he would be “amazed” if the Liberal party didn’t do a preference deal with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in a bid to hold the seat vacated by former leader Sussan Ley, but it would be “poisonous for Liberal candidates in city electorates” if it did.
He said there were “virtually no moderates left in the Liberal party”.
Reflecting on the party’s shift to the right since losing its once-safe urban seats in 2022, and the right-wing media’s push for it to move away from the centre, he said: “These guys have got a death wish.”
Turnbull says he’d like to see Allegra Spender as treasurer
Adam Morton
Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has praised the teal independent MPs as “some of the smartest people that have ever gone into the federal parliament” and said her would like to see them as part of a government – and Allegra Spender as treasurer.
Speaking at a Climate Action Week Sydney event, Turnbull said of the community independents supported by the Climate 200 fundraising organisation that “there isn’t one of them whose inclusion into any cabinet I have been a member of would not materially increase the average intellect of the room”.
Here’s my concern: I want to see Monique Ryan, Allegra Spender … Kate Chaney, any and all of them, I want to see them on the frontbench. I want to see Allegra Spender talking about tax as the treasurer of Australia, not simply as a brilliant independent …
That’s the challenge that awaits us. How does the community independent movement, how does the great centrist, progressive sort of political movement that you’ve got, how does that form an alternative and then, ultimately, a government?
Turnbull said he was not saying the independents “must form a party, or something like that”.
I’m just saying to you [that you are] ultimately putting some of the smartest people that have ever gone into the federal parliament into the federal parliament. And I would love to see them on the frontbench.
Students told to ‘pause’ Naplan tests after widespread tech problem
Caitlin Cassidy
Primary and secondary students have been told to “pause” Naplan testing after widespread technology issues with its online platform.
In a statement on Wednesday morning, the Australian, Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara) said it was “aware of a widespread issue affecting students being able to log on to the online platform to complete their Naplan assessments”.
This issue is being urgently investigated by our technology provider, Education Services Australia, who run the platform. Schools have been advised to pause testing while this is being investigated.
Acara said schools were being provided with support and advice to minimise impacts on students. About 1.4 million students are expected to complete this year’s Naplan tests, which transitioned online in 2022.
Nationals elect Matt Canavan to replace Littleproud as leader
Matt Canavan will be the new leader of the Nationals, following David Littleproud’s decision to resign yesterday afternoon.
Nationals MP for Gippsland Darren Chester is elected the deputy.
Nationals whip Michelle Landry announced the results – but doesn’t tell us the vote numbers.
She says:
I think it’s important we’ve got strong leadership in our party and we thank David Littleproud for the amazing job that he’s done. A mighty battle coming up ahead of us, we’ve got two years to get ourselves up in the polls.
